This following list is for general interest and shows all of the birds that are on the Bucks list, but which have not been seen for some years. Sometimes for a great many years! This of course does not cover all the species that have never turned up in the county. That would be a long list!
If you have been birding in the county for quite a few years, then maybe you have seen a few of these. If not, then finding any of these species is something to aim at!
Obviously the list includes plenty of birds which are nationally rare, so it’s not surprising to see them here. Some birds are literally once-in-a-lifetime occurences, for example Great Shearwater.
There are also some former breeders here which very sadly are unlikely to return, even as vagrants, e.g. Cirl Bunting and Corncrake.
But given their occurrences in our neighbouring counties in recent(ish!) years, there are definitely some birds here that we hope will turn up once again. How about a Whiskered Tern at Marlow? Arctic Skua at Calvert? A Great Reed Warbler singing away at Weston Turville?
We can but dream….
The data was kindly compiled by Roger Bibby.
160 years – Guillemot (1852).
100+ years – Pallas’s Sandgrouse (1908), Little Bittern(1922).
80 years – Roller (1938).
50+ years – Bufflehead (1961), Great Snipe (1962), Nutcracker (1968), Red-breasted Flycatcher (1970), Serin (1971).
40+ years – Hooded Crow (1975), Rose-coloured Starling(1978), Puffin (1979), Long-tailed Skua (1982), Bluethroat (1983).
30+ years – Corncrake (1985), Cirl Bunting (1985), ArcticSkua (1985), Little Bunting (1987), Aquatic Warbler (1990), American Golden Plover(1991), Black-eared Wheatear (1992), Eider (1993).
20+ years – Pomarine Skua (1994), Razorbill (1996), RiverWarbler (1997), Purple Sandpiper (1997), Richard’s Pipit (1998), GreatShearwater (1999), Franklin’s Gull (1999), Whiskered Tern (2001), Woodchat Shrike (2003), Least Sandpiper (2003), Two-barred Crossbill (2003).
10+ years – Bee-eater (2005), Twite (2006), Wilson’sPhalarope (2007), Black Stork (2008), Great Reed Warbler (2008), Icterine Warbler (2008), Green-winged Teal (2008).
